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Was that an xmas episode? I'm not saying all TV is bad at the moment, just the specific xmas/thanksgiving episodes that are for some reason so popular (does anyone actually like them?).

Depends on the seasonal holiday. If it's a Halloween themed episode they are kind of annoying, Christmas themes are ok to me since it changes the tone of a show and usually in a good way.

As far as Christmas music goes, I don't remember the last one I heard, I think I kind of block them out from any short/long term memory. Probably a Buble song, or a commericial for his CD at the least.

I'm not sure if I've heard any all the way through or not yet this year. I've always liked "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". It's kind of bluesy which is odd for a carol. Most of them are so upbeat. And "Good King Wenceslas", I like that one too. And "Let It Snow".

As for Xmas episodes of TV shows, they're usually sappy but heartwarming. I agree they're sort of a "day off" for the writers in many cases. A lot depends upon how invested you are in the characters. If you like them, you like seeing them enjoying the season.

It does depend on the show. I think the worst was Eureka (a year ago?), when all of the main characters turn into stop motion figures and had an adventure. It was mildly amusing for about 2 minutes to see the animation (I like stop motion), but then it was an awful script-- I almost turned it off.

GSimon, you're right about Halloween-- often much worse than the xmas episodes. I'm not sure it's worse than Thanksgiving though. I don't think there has been an episode about thanksgiving (and there have been plenty) without focusing on "the family isn't getting along; now the family is getting along". Maybe it's just me, but I don't really feel like Thanksgiving is all that dramatic. Perhaps it's meant to make those of us in the real world feel better? But so much drama! Haha.

The issue with many Christmas episodes in my mind, are that they are really just throw away episodes, basically, they think "well, we need a Christmas episode, it shouldn't have any relevance to any existing thread of a plot line throughout the series, Nd it should include very corny scenes and lots of Christmas paraphernalia, a young woman in a suitably skimpy Santa suit and should extol the virtues of Christmas"

At least, that's the vibe I'm getting from the Christmas episodes I've seen so far this year.

"Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program." - Linus TorvaldsAnime Views ForumsBernie

As a completely off-topic comment... what good Australian TV shows are there now? I enjoy watching them (something about the accent is fun), and I just finished watching old episodes of Rescue: Special Ops-- fun (if not the most serious show out there, haha.)

As a completely off-topic comment... what good Australian TV shows are there now? I enjoy watching them (something about the accent is fun), and I just finished watching old episodes of Rescue: Special Ops-- fun (if not the most serious show out there, haha.)

As an Australian, there aren't actually many "Australian" shows I watch, a lot of them are American or British (Doctor Who, Big Bang Theory, Bones, Castle, [FIREFLY!!!])...
I'm not really a fan of anything like Home and Away...

For someone like me, interested in other languages (and other dialects of English), the monopoly on TV by America (and the UK) is a little frustrating. For example, if I want to watch a decent TV show in Spanish, there might be a few things, but beyond that there's basically nothing-- lots of reality TV in various languages, but that's it, plus a few soap operas here and there. Everything else is just dubbed American shows (and some British too).

So far I've only watched Rescue: Special Ops from Australia, as well as The Almighty Johnsons from New Zealand, both fun shows.

(For some reason I've always wanted to "learn" Australian, although I haven't had a chance to actually attempt it. I imagine it would be very hard because I'd have to consciously block what I already know about American English-- I'm actually doing some research on that kind of thing at the moment, for other reasons, about learning a second dialect in general. Interesting stuff.)

... the monopoly on TV by America (and the UK) is a little frustrating.

Not just a little frustating, but enormously frustrating. All those good programs that English speaking people miss just because of that monopoly.
And while I'm saying this, I realize I have to express myself in a language that is not mine.
What a misery! I propose we all start to learn Latin and communicate in that language. It's a good exercise and takes away the privilege of English.

What a misery! I propose we all start to learn Latin and communicate in that language.

And go back about 500 years! (Haha, I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but it's amusing. Or perhaps the Romans were right in the first place.)

Bernie,
Mhm, that was the idea behind Esperanto. It didn't really catch on though. (Personally, though, I strongly prefer interlingua, an easy-to-access combination of the Romance languages so anyone with a passing familiarity with any of them can follow what it says.)

As for Australian, that's true. There are a few new vocabulary items, but mostly it's just the pronunciation, which I think is fun